Inventor of Christianity? On December 17th, the anti-Catholic Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari, to whom Pope Francis talks regularly, revealed in La Repubblica how Francis answered the question which saint he prefers. Francis said, “The first is obviously Paul. He is the one who constructed our religion.”

Lutheran theses coincide with what happened in the first centuries: At the end of his article, Scalfari writes, "In the early centuries of Christianity, the sacraments were celebrated directly by the faithful and the priests only served.” Scalfari continues, “Francis agrees on these Lutheran theses that coincide with what happened in the first centuries." The Vatican did not deny Scalfari’s claims.